The Atlantic Coast of Maryland, Sediment Budget Update: Tier 2, Assateague Island and Ocean City Inlet

This Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering Technical Note (CHETN) describes a Regional Sediment Management (RSM) strategy developed to update a holistic sediment budget for the portion of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline within the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Baltimore Districts Area of Responsibility, which for coastal applications is the Maryland coast bounded by Delaware to the north and Virginia to the south. Active Federal projects existing within the limits of this task include the Atlantic Coast of Maryland Shoreline Protection Project, the Assateague Island ecosystem restoration project, Stinky Beach (Section 111 Rivers and Harbors Act), the navigational structures at the Ocean City Inlet, and a number of Federally authorized channels (Figure 1). Reed (2014) reported on the first tier of the study in the area of interest, which included the Atlantic Coast of Maryland Shoreline Protection Project, the shoreline north of Ocean City Inlet extending to the Maryland/Delaware border. This CHETN addresses the remainder of the coastline, including Assateague Island and Ocean City Inlet. This effort was supported by the USACE Baltimore District (NAB) and the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) through the USACE RSM Program. This CHETN documents the purpose, development, and outcomes of the second tier in the Atlantic Coast of Maryland Sediment Budget Update to develop a regional sediment budget for the mid-Atlantic coastal zone.